All Entries in the "Supply Chain" Category
What do Your Suppliers Think of You?
“The importance of being a good customer cannot be overstated, and asking for candid feedback can make a tremendous, positive difference in supply relationships”, says Lisa Arnseth, Insider Supply Management. It comes down to “Asking tough questions, accepting tough answers.” How would you rate your relationships with your suppliers? Supplier relationship management (SRM) isn’t [...]
Closing the Gap for Competitive Advantage
You might not realize it but competition will be heating up at a furious pace in the healthcare marketplace as Accountability Care Organizations (ACO) mature. This is because ACOs will be after the same customers that your hospital is trying to woo to your facility. And much of their competition advantage will be based on [...]
Supplier Relationship Management: Is this really an emerging best practice?
We don’t hear a lot of supply chain professionals talking about “supplier relationship management” as an emerging best practice in healthcare, but it is a best practice in every other industry. So, what’s up with that? Newsflash: Industry has found early on that price is only one component of the “best value” equation with their [...]
Protect one of the most Vulnerable Assets of Your Hospital’s Supply Chain
When I was told by an inventory specialist a few months back that a hospital’s inventory assets can have a value, on any given year, of up to 28% of a hospital’s total supply spend it took me by surprise. I always knew that a hospital’s inventories where a valuable asset, but I never [...]
Planning to Win in the Hospital Supply Chain Game
I always find the job of planning to be boring, while at the same time stimulating and thought provoking because it forces you and me to think long-term about our challenges and opportunities one, two, three or even five years out. I do this exercise every year around the holidays, for the last 25 years [...]
Three Proven Tips and Tricks to Lowering your Hospital’s Purchase Service Contract Cost
I’m hearing more and more chatter in hospital supply chain circles that purchase service contracts are becoming more of a priority to reduce hospital, system and IDNs’ operating expenses. While this is a good thing, I’m also hearing that many supply chain professionals don’t know where to get started when venturing into this new found [...]
How to Best Utilize Your Hospital’s Limited Supply Chain Resources
I don’t think there is a hospital, system or IDN supply chain department that believes that they have all of the time, money or resources to do everything that they want to do to lower their cost and improve their operations. With this in mind, I would like to suggest three ways to expand your [...]
What’s Working in Hospital Supply Expense Management
We are often asked what's working in hospital supply expense management that can make a big difference in people, performance and projects that will quickly yield big dividends. Our answer is usually the following three supply expense optimizers:
4 Things to Make Your Supply Chain Job Easier
It is becoming more and more challenging for healthcare organizations to do more with less, which means that the gauntlet has been thrown down for supply chain managers to really show their metal and come to the rescue of their organizations with their skills and knowhow. More importantly, it’s time for you to take a [...]
How to Save 10%, 20% or Even 30% on Your Supply Chain Expenses
As I see it, supply chain managers will be called on to save more than their usual 3% to 5% on their supply chain expenses each and every year. This will become a reality due to the drastic reductions, over the next few years, in your hospital’s Medicare and Medicare reimbursement. Here’s a game plan [...]
